CANTON, Ohio – During a welcome reception for ten new Canton police officers held Tuesday evening, Mayor William J. Healy II announced that the police department will open its first-ever satellite office at the Edward “Peel” Coleman Community Center on Monday, June 23. The office, which is located at 1400 Sherrick Road SE in Canton, will be open to the public by appointment only.

“Today we begin charting a new path for our police department,” Healy said. “This satellite office will make it easier for citizens and police officers to interact with one another, and will hopefully be so successful that it becomes the model for future offices around the city.”

The new satellite office will be used by both patrolmen and shift supervisors to do paperwork and other routine business which would typically have been completed at the downtown location. Healy said that the increased presence of the officers as well as the more accessible location will likely generate positive feedback from neighborhood residents.

“We want to make sure that communication runs both ways between citizens and our police force,” Healy said. “There is no better way to encourage this than to place our officers directly within the community they have been sworn to protect. Everybody wants safe streets, and it's time that we all started to work together to make that happen.”

Safety Director Tom Nesbitt said that the station will likely be used more as additional police are hired, as staffing requirements often dictate when and where the majority of officers are assigned.

“When more police are hired, we will have the flexibility to use the satellite office on a more regular basis,” Nesbitt said. “Right now, staffing will be very limited until our hiring situation improves.”

Nesbitt was careful to make clear to those in attendance that the satellite office would not be keeping regular business hours, and that residents should not expect to be able to walk in unannounced to find an officer present. Nesbitt also said that residents should continue to use the city's 9-1-1 system for emergency services, as it remains the quickest way to receive help during a crisis.

“We don't want residents to think that they can show up at the satellite office and get the immediate help they may need,” Nesbitt said. “Everyone should still use 9-1-1 if they have an emergency.”

Residents who wish to set an appointment to speak to an officer or report a minor crime may do so by calling the department's main line at (330) 489-3100. Violent crimes and other serious offenses will likely still be handled by officers at the department's main office in City Hall.

Nesbitt did not rule out the potential for expanding the operations of the satellite office once staffing levels within the department had improved.

“All options are on the table at this time,” Nesbitt said. “We will evaluate the success of this office on a regular basis, and may decide at a later date to increase our use of the location. It all depends on the response we receive from the community.”